Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz proposes independent Budget Office

Benjamin Brink/The OregonianPortland city Commissioner Amanda Fritz has proposed an independent City Budget Office, which would remove financial analysts and economists from the Office of Management and Finance.

The Portland City Council could create an independent city office focused exclusively on budget analysis and economic forecasting.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz is proposing a new City Budget Office that would pull existing budget and economic functions out of the much larger Office of Management and Finance. The move could limit political gamesmanship by city leaders and also remove potential conflicts of interest within Portland government, according to the proposal, which will head to the City Council for an initial review Oct. 24.

The city's budget and financial planning staff evaluate budget proposals and provide recommendations about spending, while city economists provide forecasts of city revenue.

But they are housed in a broader office that has a $451 million budget, which lends to the "possibility or appearance" that analysts "might not give the same thorough, impartial and critical examination" to the OMF budget as they do to other bureaus, according to the proposal.

The budget for the city's existing financial planning manager, nine analysts and two economists is about $1.7 million.

The proposal would elevate Portland's financial planning manager, Andrew Scott, to city budget director. He could only be removed by a majority vote of the City Council, instead of by just the commissioner in charge, as is current standard for office and bureau directors.

Fritz's proposal also notes that each member of the City Council needs "direct unfiltered communication with financial planning staff throughout the year" and that elected officials "should have access to the information, advice, books and records" of the new office.

It's not clear whether Fritz's proposal will run into roadblocks, although it's possible that Jack Graham, the city's chief administrative officer who heads the Office of Management and Finance, may express some reservations.